Don’t blame me. I didn’t vote for that dumb bastard.
My old department issued those after the switch from revolvers. Kept them for about 10 years before switching to H&K’s. It was before my time, but I’ve heard a ton of stories about problems with them.
Before the Ruger P85 was introduced, every single test report of a semiauto handgun I read in the gun magazines described a few malfunctions per 100 rounds. The first test report I ever read that reported no failures of any kind was a test of the P85. I was too young to buy a pistol or any other gun at that time, but that detail of the test report got my attention.
Tam never disappoints:" As it slams back and forth under recoil, you notice it; it’s like shooting a Shake Weight.”
" La rose est sans pourquoi, elle fleurit parce qu’elle fleurit ; Elle n’a souci d’elle-même, ne demande pas si on la voit. » Angelus Silesius
"There are problems in this universe for which there are no answers." Paul Muad'dib
It’s a pretty cool review, that I actually first read in Concealment, but I also followed the 2k challenge she did on the gun on her blog. Tam seldom disappoints when it comes to clever turns of phrase that’s for certain. I’ll also admit that the review kicked up enough nostalgia for me to go out and buy a two toned P89 myself. I had one way back when, shortly after my 21st birthday. Back then, you couldn’t swing a cat in any gun shops around here without hitting a P89 or a P90. Back when, I had one of each, at different times.
Shooting one is definitely its own experience. I’m used to Italian crunchentickers these days, so the top heavy Ruger definitely gives up some refinement in comparison. And yet, honestly, after putting a couple hundred rounds through the one I recently acquired, I couldn’t help but think I would’ve feel naked if it was all I had.
Great review. Sure brought back memories. And a couple of chuckles.
Thanks for sharing!
I'm still hoping to buy a lightly used P90 some day, just because. A lot of that is due to Mas' articles back in the day.
I became interested in handguns shortly after the P85 was released. I lusted after one for years and the advertisements for it in my International Combat Arms magazine are etched into my late teenage mind. When I got into college and got a group of friends that were all into guns the P85 was by far the most commonly owned simply because it looked cool (to us), was used in Robocop, and could be afforded on a college student's budget. The Beretta 92 was out of my price range (and besides the slides would crack, fly back and kill you) but I wanted to be different from all my friends and ended up spending about $100 more for a Hi Power Mk III at Wal-Mart (because in International Combat Arms, while the advertisements may have been for Rugers, the people between the covers were often times carying Hi Powers). Now it may have been more an issue of none of us knowing how to shoot a pistol and my buddies limp wristing the thing, but I was never too impressed with the P85 in terms of reliability. Years later one of my buddies (who had become a USBP agent) got a P89 and reported that it worked and worked. While I realize this article is on the P89, the P85 was just so much a part of my gun toddler state I got nostalgic. As stupid as it would be - if I were to come across a P85 or P89 for a good price, I'd probably buy it Just Cuz.
The other thing of interest in her article is that Tam said the price for the pistol was 11 ounces of silver. At today's spot price of $23/ounce the silver would be worth $253 while a P89 today is going for over $400 on GunBroker. There may be something to using guns as a hedge after all? Though I suspect Tam has way way better connections than I do.
Last edited by Suvorov; 10-02-2020 at 07:40 PM. Reason: Misred the first time. Corrected.....
Looks like she recently bought the pistol and magazines for eleven ounces of silver which had a cost basis of $200. Pretty good deal.
Curious to see if they really were that reliable or if the rep was just hazy nostalgia from a misspent youth, we inquired around and wound up getting one, along with a few magazines, from a dealer in exchange for $200. (Actually, 11 ounces of silver, but that’s another story.)
- Price Paid: Six 1-oz. Austrian Philharmonics and five random 1-oz. silver bars (just under $200 at time of purchase)
My first pistol was a P89. Taught me to hate slide mounted controls. Built like a tank though, I trained with it, carried it, got my first formal instruction with it.
Felt on top of the game, with 15 124gr Hydrashoks onboard. Golden age of the wondernines.....
Miss that gun sometimes.
Out of all the gun mags I read, Tam's easily the best, most entertaining writer. Her free content is head and shoulders better than anything in Old White Guy Guns.
As for the Ruger...yeah. It ain't pretty, but it's a tank. A buddy of mine only has one gun--it's a P89. He generally goes through a box or two a week...every week, without fail. He got the gun around 1990 or so. At an average of 50 rounds per week, over the last 30 years, he's put something like 75,000 rounds through that gun. A couple years ago, he finally managed to break it. He sent it in to Ruger, they replaced a couple springs, and it went right back to spitting out ammo.
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